Battle of Cardedeu 1808
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 16 December 1808 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1808 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Spain | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Peninsular War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | First French Empire, Kingdom of Italy, Kingdom of Spain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 41.6406, 2.3594 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Cardedeu on 16 December 1808 saw an Imperial French corps led by Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr assault a Spanish force commanded by Juan Miguel de Vives y Feliu and Theodor von Reding. Saint-Cyr won the engagement by forming most of his troops into gigantic attack columns and smashing through the Spanish lines. Cardedeu is located 17 kilometres (11 mi) northeast of Barcelona, Spain. The action occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
By the fall of 1808, a French corps under Guillaume Philibert Duhesme was besieged in Barcelona by a 24,000-man Spanish army led by Vives. With 23,000 Franco-Italian soldiers, Gouvion Saint-Cyr marched from France to relieve Duhesme's troops. First Saint-Cyr undertook the successful Siege of Roses. Confronted by the fortress of Girona, which had resisted two earlier attacks, the French general resorted to a risky strategy. Leaving his artillery and most of his supplies behind, he avoided Girona by marching 16,500 men though the mountains and headed for Barcelona. Saint-Cyr completely outgeneraled Vives, who was only able to marshal 9,000 troops to block his opponent. Vives drew up his outnumbered troops on high ground, but Saint-Cyr's huge columns proved unstoppable.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Cardedeu (revision 1370436310), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Peninsular War
- Battle of Alcolea Bridge 1808
- Battle of Bailén 1808
- Battle of Benavente 1808
- Battle of Cabezón 1808
- Battle of Espinosa de los Monteros 1808
- Battle of Gamonal 1808
- Battle of Medina de Rioseco 1808
- Battle of Molins de Rei 1808
- Battle of Roliça 1808
- Battle of Sahagún 1808
All 124 battles of the Peninsular War →
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